Automatic railway-gate.



No. 882,342. PATENTE-ID MAR. 17, 1908.

J. PERNAT.

'AUTOMATICRAILWAY GATE. APPLICATION FILED DBC.17, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1..

: WJ N555 No. 882,342. l PATENTED MAR. 17, 1908. J. PERNAT.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.17.1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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lvm-882,342. PATEN'TED MAR@ 17, 1.908.

J. PERNAT. f

'AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

o 6MM! C 6 @Aw JOHNPERNAT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 17, 1907.

Patented March 17, 1908.

Serial No. 406,853.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN PERNAT, citizen of United States, residing atCleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway-Gates, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic safety gates forrailway crossings.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a railway crossinggate mechanism which will be simple and practical in construction,durable in use, comparatively inexpensive to produce and reliable andautomatic in operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gate mechanism oi' thischaracter in which a plurality of double crossing gates will besimultaneously actuated by a single weight operated mechanism, thelatter being automatically controlled by passing trains.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved alarm bellmechanism which will be operated by the gates.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists ofthecombinations and arrangements of parts and the novel features ofconstruction hereinafter fully described and claimed, and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved automatic railway gate; Fig. 2 isa side elevation of the same 3 Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation ofthe weight operated mechanism Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same;Fig. 5 is an elevation of the opposite side of the mechanism shown inFig. 3; and Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the double gates operatedby the weight mechanism.

In the drawings 1 denotes a double railway track and 2, 3, 4, 5, denotefour double rail- Way crossing gates of the usual form, each gate havinga long gate arm 6 to extend halfway across a street, road or otherhighway and a short gate arm 7 to project over the sidewalk. These gatesare arranged in the usual manner, that is, in pairs one pair being oneach side ofthe road and the gates of each pair being disposed onopposite sides of the track in transverse alinement.

In the gates 3, 4, 5, the arms 6 are pivoted at 8 upon the enlargedupper ends of standards 9 or other suitable supports and the arms 7 aresimilarly pivoted at 10 upon said standards, said pivots 10 having theirends supported by brackets 11 as more clearly shown in Fig. 6. The arms6, 7 are each' preferably constructed of united longitudinal members orbars the inner ends of which are spaced apart to receive the standard 9between them. Pivoted links 12 connect said arms 6, 7 so that they willswing simultaneously in opposite directions and their downward movementis preferably limited by stop pins 13 arranged upon the arms 6 andadapted to engage the brackets 11, as seen in Fig. 6.

In the gate 2 the arms 6, 7 are similarly constructed and mounted onpivots 14, 15 arranged in a standard or support 16 of irregular form asshown in Figs. 3, 5. Said arms of this gate are connected together forsimultaneous movement by a link 17 and one of the members of the arm 6is extended beyond the pivot 14 and provided with a weight 18 whichserves to counter-balance the arms.

The weight operated mechanism which serves to simultaneously raise orlower the arms 6, 7 of the 'four gates 2, 3, 4, 5, is preferably mountedupon the support or standard 16 and comprises an oscillatory element ormember 19 in the Jform of a circular plate or disk pivoted at its centerupon a pivnt 20 projecting from one side of the support 16. Said disk orelement 19 is adapted to have a limited rotary or oscillatory movementand is operatively connected to the gate arms by a sprocket chain 21passed over a sprocket wheel 22 Vhxed to the pivot 14 which carries thegate arm 6, as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of the chain are connected tothe periphery of the disk at points about 90O apart.

The disk or element 19 is adapted to be actuated in opposite directionsby two weighted levers 23, 24 which are in turn actuated by trip devicesarranged along the track in the path of operating devices upon thepassing trains. Said levers have their inner ends 'fulcrumcd upon thepivot 20 and are provided at their outer or free ends with suitableweights 25. Each lever carries a dog or pawl 26 which is pivoted at itsupper end at 27 upon the lever and is formed intermediate its ends witha tooth 2S adapted to engage one of two series of ratchet teeth 29, 29formed at suitable points upon the disk or element 19. Said pawls areactuated by springs 30 which tend to move the teeth 28 toward theratchets 29. The lower ends 31 of the pawls are curved or cam-shaped tocoact with a trip pin or projection 32 which is arranged upon thesupport 16 and adapted to spread the pawls apart to disengage the teeth28 from the ratchets 29 when the levers reach their lowered positionshown in Fig. 3.

The lever 23 as it swings downwardly is adapted to actuate the disk orelement 19 in a direction that will cause the gate arms 6, 7 to beelevated, and it is lifted to its ele-j vated position shown in dottedlines in Fig. 3 by the movement of trip levers 33, 34 of any suitableform and construction arranged along the track 1 and adapted to beactuated by suitable devices upon passing cars or trains. Said triplevers 33 34 are connected to the ends of cables 35, 36 which passaround suitable guide pulleys 37 and have their opposite ends connectedto a chain 38 which passes around a guide pulley 39 on the support 16and isconnected to one end of a sprocket chain 40. r1`he latter, as seenin Fig. 5, passes over a guide sprocket wheel 41 on the support 16` andis adjustably connected to the lever 23.

rllhe lever 24 as it swings downwardly actuates the disk 19 in thereverse direction to lower the gate arms 6, 7 5 and said lever 24 islifted by trip levers 42, 43 which are similar to the levers 33, 34. Thelevers 42, 43 are connected to cables 44, 45 which are passed overlguide ulleys 46 and are connected to one end of a chain 47. The latterpasses around a guide pulley 48 and is connected to a sprocket chain 49which in turn passes around a guide sprocket wheel 50 and is adjustablyconnected to the lever 24.

Each of the gatesv3, 4, 5, is actuated from the gate 2 and has upon itsarm 7 a sprocket wheel 55 over which passes a sprocket chain 54, asclearly shown in Fig. 6 which is a view of the inner side of the gate 4.For the purpose of actuating thegate arms of the gates 3, 4 `from thegate 2, I provide upon the pivot 14 a sprocket wheel 51 (as shown inFigs. 3, 4) over which passes a sprocket chain 52 having one vof itsends connected to a cable 53. The latter, as seen in Fig. 1, passes overguide pulleys 54 and is connected to one end of the chain 54 of the gate3. The other end of the chain 54 of gate 3 is connected to a cable 53atwhich extends across the tracks, as shown in Fig. 1 (and over suitableguide pulleys not illustrated) and is connected to one end of the chain54,l of the gate 4 as seen in Fig. 6. The other end of chain 54 of gate4 is connected to a cable 53b which passes over guide pulleys 54a (seeFig. 1) and is connected to the other end of the chain 52, as shown inFig. 3.

The arms of the gate 5 are similarly operi ated from the gate 2 byproviding upon the pivot 14 a third sprocket wheel 56 for a sprocketchain 57 which is connected to a cable 58. The latter, as shown in Fig.1, eX- tends across the track and has included in it a sprocket chain(similar to the chain 54) which passes over a sprocket wheel upon thearm 7 of the gate 5.

The alarm bell mechanism is preferably mounted on the support 16 and isshown in Figs. 4 and 5. It comprises a train of gears 59 mounted in asupporting frame 60 and actuated by a spring-pressed pawl 61 pivotedupon the arm 6 of the gate 2 as shown. The train of gears actuates apivoted bell hammer 62 which strikes a bell 63 upon the support 16.l/Vhen the arm 6 is raised the pawl 61 slips over one of the gears 59but when said arm is moved downwardly the pawl actuates the gears andthe bell is thereby sounded.

In operation, assuming the gates to be open, and a train to be movingover the upper track in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrow, the trip42 will be first actuated to draw upon the cable 44 and lift theweighted lever 24. As the latter is elevated its pawl 26 engages theratchet 29 of disk 19 so that when the lever is permitted to drop bygravity it rotates the disk 19, and, owing to the above describedconnections between said disk and the arms of all four gates, said armswill be simultaneously lowered to the position shown in full lines inthe drawings. After the train passes the crossing it actuates the trip34 which causes the lever 23 to be elevated. When lever 23 descendsitturns disk 19 in the opposite direction to lower the gate arms. When thelevers 23, 24 reach their lowered positions their pawls 26 areautomatically disengaged from the ratchets 29 by the engagement of theircam ends 31 with the trip 32. When the arm 6 of the gate 2 descends thebell 63 will be sounded as above de,- scribed. When the train passes inthe opposite direction over the other track the trip levers 43, 33 willbe successively operated and the operation of the other parts of theinvention will be the same. It will be understood that the trip leversare arranged at suitable distances from the crossing.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my invention provides a railwaycrossing gate which is simple, strong, durable inexpensive, reliable,efficient and entirely automatic in its operation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a railway gate, the combination of a-pivoted gate a sprocket wheelcarried by the gate, an oscillatory element, a sprocket chain passedaround the wheel and connected to said element, oppositely arrangedratchets upon said element, weighted levers, spring-actuated pawlscarried by the levers for engagement with said ratchets, means fordisengaging the pawls from the ratchets,

and means for lifting said levers.

2. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, a ratchet upon said element, a weighted lever, apawl carried by the lever for enga ement with the ratchet when thelevel` is e evated, and means for disengaging the pawl'from the ratchetwhen the lever i`s lowered.

3. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, oppositely arranged ratchets upon said element,weighted levers, spring actuated pawls pivoted upon the levers forengagement with the ratchets when the levers are lifted, and meansarranged in the path of the pawls for disengaging them from the ratchetswhen the levers are lowered.

4. In a railway gate, the combination of a plurality of gate armsoperatively connected for simultaneous swinging movement, an oscillatoryelement provided with oppositely arranged ratchets, weighted leversfulcrumed concentric with said element, spring actuated pawls pivotedupon the levers for engagement with the ratchets, means arranged in thepath of the pawls for disengaging them from the ratchets, trip devicesadapted to be actuated by passing cars, and operative connectionsbetween said trip devices and said levers, substantially as described.

5. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, a pair of oppositely disposed levers havingtheir inner ends pivoted and their free ends weighted, pawls carried bysaid levers for engaging said element and actuating it in oppositedirections when said levers move downwardly, and means for elevatingsaid levers.

6. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, a pair of oppositely disposed levers havingtheir inner ends pivoted and their free ends weighted, pawls carried bysaid levers lor engaging said element and actuating it in oppositedirections when said levers moved downwardly, means for disengaging saidpawls from said element, trip devices adapted to be actuated by apassing car, and operative connections between said trip devices andsaid levers.

7. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, a pair of oppositely disposed levers, pawlscarried by said levers for engaging and operating said element, meansfor disengaging said pawls from said element and means for actuatingsaid levers.

S. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate, an oscillatory elementfor actuating the same, a ratchet upon said element, a lever pivotedconcentric with said element and having its free end weighted, a pawlpivoted at one of its ends to said lever and having its free end formedwith a curved or cam-shaped portion, the intermediate portion of saidpawl being formed with a tooth to engage said ratchet, a spring upon thelever for actuating said pawl, a trip stud adapted to be engaged by thecurved end of the pawl to disengage the tooth of the latter from theratchet, and means for elevating said lever.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN PERNAT.

